Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 4.djvu/150

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. IV.MA*. 1918.

leather belt was worn round the waist ; and attached to it was a light line, by means of which the sweep could always communicate with the boy. Probably this life-line was introduced after catastrophes of various kinds had called attention to the risks run by the boys.
 * ' skirts " fell on to the shoulders. A

On their knees the boys wore guards of padded leather or other material, to protect their flesh from the roughnesses of the chimney sides. Their feet were either bare, or covered by pliable shoes which had very thin soles. Their tools were a scraper and a brush, and they carried bags or small sacks, into which they put the soot.

It was said that the sweeps used to " feed " their climbing boys on gin, in order to prevent them from growing. The boys were always orphans almost slaves, it would seem ; but the stories abdut their master told me by my nurse were, most emphatically, " stories with a purpose " the " purpose " being to ensure my docility ; and they were most effectual as a means of silencing protest and checking rebellion. The chimney sweep was, in fact, the " Boney " and the " bogey man " of my childhood. ARTHUR J. IRELAND.

ADMIRAL TROMP'S ENGLISH DESCENDANTS (12 S. hi. 478, 520; iv. 25, 84). The full Tiame of the famous Dutch admiral was not Martin Hapertzoon Tromp, but Maarten Herpertszoon or Harpertszoon (Martin, son of Herbert) Tromp. It is well known in Holland that no traceable descendants of the hero survive. It is, considering human nature, not surprising that many people who bear this very common Dutch name, particularly when settled abroad, should have boasted of an illustrious descent with- out any foundation of truth.

W. DEL COURT.

47 Blenheim Crescent. W.ll.

' TOM BROWN'S SCHOOL DAYS ' : LITERARY ERRO& (12 S. iv. 8, 116). The most likely explanation of Thomas Hughes' s mistake in ascribing Shenstone's lines to Howe is that he had in mind the latter's song of ' Colin's Complaint ' :

Despairing beside a clear stream A shepherd forsaken was laid. Johnson in his life of Shenstone, when speaking of the ' Pastoral Ballad,' says : " His stanza seems to have been chosen in imitation of Rowe's ' Despairing Shepherd.' "

The two lines

I have found out a gift for my fair ;

I have found where the wood-pigeons breed,

are, of course, a translation of

Parta meae Veneri sunt munera ; namquc notavi

Ipse locum aerise quo congessere palumbes.

Vergil, Eel. iii. 68.

MR. PICKERING remarks that it is an astonishing fact that the error should never have been corrected. Although no notice is taken of it in the only annotated edition of ' Tom Brown ' that I have seen, yet it has presumably provoked before now the un- spoken or unprinted comment of readers. But the correction of a work (other than a book of reference or learned treatise) after the author's death is a delicate business. Where is the printer or editor to hold his hand ? If Lamb quotes loosely from recollection is he to be set right ?

When young Lord Castlewood breaks the news of his marriage with Mademoiselle de Wertheim, Thackeray makes him write : " There are four Counts her brothers. One an Abbey three with the Prince's army " (' Esmond,' bk. iii. chap. ii.). In an Ameri- can edition " an Abbey " has been corrected into " in an Abbey " ! EDWARD BENSLY.

FRANCIS TIMBRELL (12 S. ii. 507 ; iii. 76, 112, 427; iv. 84). Important MS. collec- tions relating to this family were made by the late F. S. Potter, and are in the possession of Mr. Richard Savage, Avranches, Grove Road, Stratford-on-Avon.

J. HARVEY BLOOM.

" ACT OF PARLIAMENT CLOCK " (11 S. x. 130 ; 12 S. iii. 462 ; iv. 23, 61, 118). The Act of Parliament of 1797, imposing a duty on clocks and watches, proved most disas- trous to the horological trade, and was repealed in the following year. An in- teresting account of the consequences of this Act is given, with illustrations of Act of Parliament clocks, in Mr. F. J. Britten's ' Old Clocks and Watches and their Makers,' 3rd ed., p. 568. He states that a former correspondent of ' N. & Q.' mentions that he met with a printed form of receipt, dated April, 1798, for a half-year's taxes due from a small farmer in Essex, in which occurred the item " for clocks and watches, 5s. 7 id."

R. B. P.

" PHARAOH " = TRAVELLING SHOWMAN (12 S. iv. 75). Is it right to assume that the name by which a travelling showman is sometimes known is to be spelt in the same way as we have adopted for spelling the name of a king of Egypt ? There is an English word " fare," which is still very much alive in the Eastern Counties, and which still exists in the English classical